Allura had clasped both hands over her mouth in shock.

"Get up," Keith demanded as Lance wiped the drop of blood with the back of his hand. 

"I'm not going to fight you, Keith," Lance said.

Allura grabbed her skirt and rushed from the room, horrified.

"You move fast," Keith snarled.

Lance stood on unsteady feet and rubbed his chin, "You're lucky I like you man, because I am so tempted to kick your ass."

"Bring it on."

"What is with you?"

"What is with me?  Could it be the fact that you can't keep your hands off Allura?"

"Well, maybe if you touched her, she wouldn't be coming to me."

Lance saw it coming this time and dodged away from Keith's swinging fist.

"You asshole," the Captain hissed.


"If she was with me, it's because you pushed her away," Lance told him.

"How long did you wait before you made your move?  Two days?  Four days?"

"Make my move?  God, you're an idiot!"

"You're a scumbag!"

Lance held his hands up, "Step back, Keith.  It wasn't what you think.  She's like a sister to me, I would never take advantage of her."

"You were all over her!"

"I was comforting her!  She's devastated!  She wants to go to you, but she can't.  Do you have any idea how hard this has been for her?  For four years she has gone to you for help and advice.  Even before you were dating, Allura could go to you.  Now she can't.  Not only is she broken hearted, but she lost her closest confidante.  Yeah, she came to me, as her second choice!"

Keith lowered his hands, feeling foolish.  

"She loves you, Keith, but she doesn't think she can come to you."

"I'm, uh, I'm sorry, Lance."


"Yeah, you should be."

"I shouldn't have hit you."

"No, you shouldn't have.  But even worse, you thought I would try and take Allura from you.  She's like a sister to me, she is very important to me and as much as I love you, I can't stand watching you hurt her."


Keith's defenses came up, "She was the one who broke up with me."

"You were the one cozying up with Euclida."  Lance sighed, "Alright, that was low, I admit it.  I know you were just trying to help her.  But Allura was upset and hurt.  She realized her mistake later that day and she came to your study to try and set things right, but you told her you wanted time apart."

"She didn't say anything."

"Well, no, she thought you wanted to break up with her.  What was she supposed to say?"

Keith sat in one of the overstuffed chairs and put his face in his hands, "What do I do?"


"Well, sitting on your ass isn't going to get anything done."

"You're right," Keith rubbed his hands on his legs.  "I am really, really sorry Lance."

"Next time, Commander or not, I am going to kick your ass."

"I know."

Lance took pity on his friend and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Do you want to know why she was so upset?"

Guilt washed over Keith, "Why?"

"Apparently, it was a month ago today that you proposed to her."

It was a knife in the heart.  "I didn't even realize…"

"Go to her, Keith, make this right."

He nodded and slowly got to his feet, "I just hope I'm not too late."

"You're not.  She's miserable."

"So am I."

Lance rolled his eyes, "You are an idiot.  Go to her, beg her forgiveness."

"Thank you, Lance."

"Yeah, you owe me, man."

"I owe you big."

******************************************************

Keith stood nervously in front of Allura's closed door.  His heart was racing as he wiped his moist palms on his pant legs.  What if she didn't take him back?  What if she hated him for hitting Lance?  Why had he done that?  That was completely out of character for him, was this another sign that he had been manipulated?

He clutched and unclutched his hands before finally knocking.

"Who is it?"  Her voice sounded raw.

"It's me," he said quietly.

She hesitated.  Should she let him in?  Was he still angry?  No, Keith would never hurt her.  Taking a deep breath, Allura walked to the door and opened it.  Her heart shuttered at the sight of him.  He raised his eyes to hers and she knew he was not angry.  He was hurt and he was sorry.

"Allura," Keith ran a shaky hand through his hair.  "I am so sorry."

"So am I," she whispered.

"Can…can we talk?"

"Of course," she stepped aside to let him in. 

"I don't even know where to begin."

Allura shut the door and turned to face him, "What happened, Keith?"

"I don't know.  What I do know is that I love you and I have missed you so much these past few days."

Allura pursed her lips, feeling the tears well up in her eyes.

Taking her silence as reluctance, Keith began to pace the floor.  "I have been going out of my mind, Allura.  I didn't know what was going on, but when I sat down to think it through, I started to consider that there were other powers at work here.  Maybe Haggar manipulated you and me as well, not just Euclida.  Something happened when we went to Doom, I know you felt it too."

She nodded.

"What you and I have is real and we can't let that witch come between us.  We can work this out.  Please give me a chance to make this up to you."

Allura blinked, feeling a tear slide down her cheek.

He stopped in front of her, wanting to touch her but unsure.  "Talk to me, please."

"I've missed you too," she breathed.

Almost afraid to believe it, he stepped closer, "We can make this right?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

She nodded, another tear trailing down her cheek.

In one swift move, Keith wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tight against him.  Allura wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck. 

*******************************************************

Haggar glided into the main throne room.  If she had cared enough to notice, it might have bothered her to see the castle crumbling down around her.  The world Zarkon had worked so hard to build was falling to ruins as his son sought his obsession.

Lotor was seated at a table, devouring an elaborate meal as a lovely young blonde woman dressed in rags stood beside him.  He didn't even bother to lift his head when the witch entered, "What is it?"

"You hesitated too long."

The ignorant young ruler of Doom looked up at her, wiping his mouth with a cloth napkin, "What do you mean?"

"The Princess and the Captain are once again growing closer.  You hesitated too long."

He stood so quickly his chair fell over with a loud bang.  The young girl jumped, but stayed in her spot.

"It has only been a week!  I thought you said they would stay apart!"

"I could not guarantee that, but once again you heard only what you wanted to hear."

Lotor stormed over to the witch and towered above her, "Fix this."

"They belong together.  No matter what obstacles you put between them, they will find their way back together."

Lotor seethed with rage.  "Is your robeast ready?"

"It is too late, they are already moving back together."

With a roar of rage, Lotor whirled around and upended the food laden table.  "Finish the robeast and we will attack!"

************************************************

"You felt it too?"  Allura asked.  "I knew there was something pulling us apart, but at the time I didn't know what it was."

Keith nodded.  They were sitting on her bed, facing each other and talking about what had happened.

"I didn't want to lose you," he said.  "But something was telling me that we needed space…and time."

"I thought that too, but then…" she trailed off.

"But then what?"  He asked, taking her hand.

"But then Lance knocked some sense into me."

"What did he do?"

"He, uh, he pointed out how devastated I was when I thought Lotor had killed you," her voice shook as she looked down at their joined hands.  "When I think about what my life would be like without you, it isn't the life I want.  I am terrified of a future without you."

"You'll never have to know what that's like," he whispered.  "I promise."

"I'm sorry I doubted you."

"Allura, I love you, completely.  I need you to understand that.  Just because I'm upset or I'm busy or I'm angry or talking to Euclida doesn't mean I stopped loving you.  You are and always will be the woman I love, the most important person in my life."

Taking his face in her hands, Allura whispered, "You are an amazing, compassionate man and that is one of the many reasons I love you.  I would never want you to change who you are.  I can honestly say now that I did overreact and you were right in how you treated Euclida."

He leaned forward and kissed her gently.

"So we're okay?"  She whispered, resting her forehead against his.

"No."

"No?"

"Not yet."  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring.  "We won't be alright until you accept this again and forgive me, totally, for being a fool."

"Well, it is a pretty ring."

"And you did break up with me first."


Allura sighed dramatically and smiled, "Okay.  I'll forgive you if you forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive, Angel."  He took her left hand and slid the ring into its rightful place.  "Never again, for any reason, ever, are you allowed to take that off."

"What if it falls off?"


"I'll go get the soldering iron, that thing is never coming off."  Keith made to stand, but stopped when she grabbed his arm.

"You're not going anywhere," she giggled, pulling him back onto the bed.

The fell back together, Keith landing on top of her.  The laughter died away as they gazed at each other.  Keith stroked her cheek and gently kissed her.


"I have missed you so much," he murmured as he raced his lips over her cheek and down her throat.  "You taste so good."

"I do?"  Allura ran her hands up his back and into his hair.

"Yes, you do.  And you smell good and you're beautiful."

"I didn't know you were so superficial, Captain," she teased.

He captured her earlobe between his teeth and tugged gently, "There is nothing superficial about you, Allura."  He moved to carefully kiss and tease her throat, "You are amazing."

Allura felt her entire body tense as his hands roamed over her.  Her heart raced and her mind went blissfully blank.  She had gone through the motions of life the last week in a daze, feeling lost.  But now everything seemed to fall back into place, life was suddenly bright and beautiful again.

Afraid he was crushing her, Keith rolled over, taking her with him.

Allura laid her head on his chest and smiled, "I could stay here forever."

"So could I, but I go on duty in half an hour."

"Call in sick, make someone cover for you."

He chuckled and stroked her hair, "I wish I could."

She lifted her head to look at him, "We have to make up for lost time."

"Well, it is early duty, I'll be off this evening."

"Twice," Allura said as she brushed the hair off his forehead and stroked his cheek.  "I went for a walk when I couldn't sleep and I found myself in front of your door.  But I couldn't bring myself to knock."

"You really shouldn't do that, Allura."

"What?  Visit you at night?"

"Well, no, I like that, even though you shouldn't do it, we'll get in trouble.  But you shouldn't be wandering around the castle alone at night."

"What should I do?  I have trouble sleeping."

"You can call me on your communicator, we can talk.  At a safe distance."

"I don't want to be at a safe distance from you."

Keith ran his hands over her back, "It seems like we're always meeting late at night."

A smile flitted across her lips, "Like that time I caught you on the Observation Deck and you almost kissed me."

"You remember that?"

She nodded.

"God, I wanted to touch you so badly that night.  You were so beautiful.  All dressed in white, that was when I first thought you looked like an angel.  That image haunted me for many nights."

"Why do you think we run into each other at night?"

Keith shrugged, "Maybe because it's the only time we can really be alone."

"Maybe we should make a date to meet at a set time each night."

"Or maybe we should sleep so we can be rested for practice in the morning."

She laid her head back on his chest, "Always the soldier."

"Someone has to look out for you if you're going to be up walking around, unattended."

"We're safe here in the castle."

"Lotor has shown that he can…" Keith stopped when the castle alarms went off.  "Care to repeat your last comment?"

Allura groaned and rolled off him, "He has impeccable timing."

They raced to Castle Control to find the rest of the Force already there.

"What is it?"  Keith asked.

"Doom fighters and a coffin ship," Koran told him.

Keith turned to his team, noticing the slight swell of Lance's mouth and winced. "To your Lions, gang."

A coffin ship came to a smooth landing beside the castle while four fighters exchanged fire with the turret guns. 

"Looks like the fighters are under control," Keith said.  "Let's see what's lying in the coffin."

The lid slowly opened and revealed a monstrous robeast.  It rose to a height equal to Voltron with four arms and a large, spiked horn protruding from its forehead.  It let out a mighty roar and stomped toward the castle.

Without further delay, the Force formed Voltron.  The mighty robot stepped between the robeast and the castle, just barely missing the horn as the robeast brought its head down.  Voltron knocked the creature to the ground but was brought down beside it when the robeast grabbed Blue Lion.


"Allura!"  Keith shouted. 

"I'm fine," she assured him.

"Let's get this over with!  Form Blazing Sword!"

The robeast swung around and sent Voltron flying back into the woods.


"Shake it off," Keith said.


The robot knight rose to its feet and raised the sword over its head.  Swinging down, they cleanly cut off one of the robeast's arms before it swung around and knocked Voltron down again.  The fight continued for quite a few more minutes before Voltron was able to successfully decapitate the robeast with the Blazing Sword.  They hadn't had a fight that intense in years.

"What's the damage?"  Allura asked Koran as they all stumbled back into Castle Control.


She cradled her left wrist to her chest, Hunk walked with a limp, Lance rubbed his arm where he had slammed it against the main console, Pidge looked a little shaken, and Keith had a trickle of blood running down the side of his face from a cut on his temple.

"We won't know right away, your highness," Koran told her.  "I suggest you all go get looked at by Dr. Gorma and I will get the report to you as soon as possible."

She nodded.

"Come on, guys," Keith held a handkerchief to his head.  "Let's see what Dr. Gorma has to say, then I want each of us to go over our Lions and come up with a list of necessary repairs."

"It seems like Haggar is getting better with her robeast making," Pidge muttered as they made their way down the hall.

Keith grabbed Lance's arm and held him back.


"I, uh, I wanted to apologize again, Lance," he said.  "I really am sorry for what happened earlier."

Lance shrugged, "It's alright, man.  What about you and Allura?"

"We worked it out."

"Good."

"I know you would never try and steal her from me, I don't know what I was thinking."

"Besides," Lance said haughtily as they started down the hall again.  "If I had wanted Allura, you wouldn't have had a chance in the first place."

Keith snorted, "Nah, she's more about substance than glitter."

"Hey!  I'm full of substance."

"Yeah, you're full of something."

{{  "My poor baby," Darcy kissed Lance's cheek.  "I can't believe he hit you."

Always one to soak up attention, Lance sniffled and laid his head on her shoulder.  "You know my broken tooth?"

"He did that?"  She gasped.

"No!"  Keith scoffed.  "You broke that tooth when you were twelve and you fell out of a tree.  Be a man, it wasn't that bad."

"I had a swollen lip for a while."

Keith rolled his eyes, "So you couldn't make out with any of the maids for 24 hours, how ever did you survive?"

"I don't know."

"So everything was alright?"  Becca asked.

"The Lions were pretty beaten up, it took quite a few days to get them up and running again," Keith explained.  "We were lucky that we weren't attacked in that time, but I did receive an interesting message from Lotor…}}